Process for treating filamentary material



April 1967 K. lWNlCKl ETAL I PROCESS FOR TREATING FILAMENTARY MATERIAL 5Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 14, 1964 Inventor April 4, 1967 K. IWNICKIETAL PROCESS FOR TREATING FILAMENTARY MATERIAL 3 Sheets sheet 2 FiledSept. 14, 1964 R k w NR Q 1 ll 14 A ak -3% H l lllk I w I NN ,M A ttorrze ys Filed Sept. 14, 1964 April 4, 6 K. lWNlCKI ETAL 3,311,961

PROCESS FOR TREATING FILAMENTARY MATERIAL 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 A ttorneys$311361 PROCESS FUR TREATENG FILAMENTARY MATERIAL Kurt Iwnicki,Pontllir, and James Frederick Thomas, Newport, England, assignors toBritish Nylon Spinners Limited. Pontypool, England Filed Sept. 14, 1964,Ser. No. 396.175

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Sept. 26, 1963,

37,846/63 2 Claims. (Cl. 28-72) The invention concerns a process fortreating filamentary material.

In the course of the manufacture of filamentary material into yarns,tows. slivers and such like endless textile materials, it is oftenrequired to treat the material in some way or another, as in steaming,dyeing or heating treatments.

Broadly speaking, such treatments can take place either on batches offilamentary material, for example packages of yarn or bales of tow, orcontinuously on the filamentary material whilst it is travelling fromone station to another.

The latter, continuous method of treatment has advantages over the batchmethod as regards both the uniformity of treatment and the ability tocoincide with other continuous treatments or winding operations.

A limiting factor on the productivity of such continuous methods oftreatment is the time required to accomplish a full and uniformtreatment of the filamentary ma terial in question, as that time willlimit the speed at which the material can be passed. through the limitedspace of the treating stage.

In the well-known thread advancing reels, this problem of time and speedhas been resolved in the production of filaments and yarns of viscoserayon by utilising the curved surface of the reel for a plurality ofhelical coils of filamentary material, thus concentrating a relativelylengthy treatment into a relatively small space.

A thread advancing reel may not, however, be an adequate means forcarrying out all continuous treatments on filamentary material, forinstance a heating treatment on bulked filamentary yarn to set crimptherein, in which heating treatment it is necessary to effect theheating very uniformly and completely along the length of the bulky yarnto avoid subsequent differential behaviour of the yarn during dyeing,knitting or weaving.

in the present invention, advantage is taken of the principle ofspace-saving achieved by the thread-advancing reel, in that a length offilamentary material is treated whilst passing in coils axially along acylindrical member, whilst the capability of the process for treating,e.g. heating a bulked yarn, is enhanced by the total enclosure of thetreatment zone.

According to the invention, a process for treating filamentary materialcomprises the steps of positively forwarding said material continuouslyand at least substantially tangentially to one end of a treatment zoneconstituted by an annular space bounded by an outer and an innercylindrical member at least one said member being rotatable about itsaxis in a direction such that it is moveable in the same direction asthe forwarded filamentary material at the point of initial contact therewith, of advancing said material in the axial direction of said memberstowards the other end of said treatment zone in the form of contiguoushelical coils between said members, and of removing said material fromsaid other end of said treatment zone.

A preferred form of such process relates to the heatsetting of bulkedfilamentary yarn, said yarn in the contiguous helical coils being heatedin the treatment zone by heat derived from a heated cylindrical memberor 3,3l lfifil Patented Apr. 4, 1967 members, and said yarn completelyfilling the annular space between said members.

Either one or both of the cylindrical members shall be rotatable, andpreferably it is or they are positively ro tated with a speed. ofrotation equal to the linear speed of the forwarded filamentarymaterial. If both members are positively rotated, they may be rotated atthe same or at different rotation-a1 speeds. Alternatively, one membermay be rotated and the otherbe merely rotatably mounted for rotation bythe action of the filamentary material.

The filamentary material is caused to advance axially along the annularspace by an urging of the first coil to adopt a helical position,whereafter succeeding coils are kept moving along towards the withdrawalend of the treatment zone by axial pressure exerted 'on them by theirpredecessors, and by the he ical direction of linear motion originallyimparted to the coils.

One apparatus by which the treatment of the invention can be carried outis described in a co-pending application filed on even date hereto.

In that apparatus, which is especially suitable for the treatment ofnylon tow or bulked yarn to heat-set it, a rotatable inner cylinder isoptionally provided with internal heating means, and a fixed orrotatable outer cylinder is optionally provided with external heatingmeans. The annular space between the two cylinders comprises a treating,eg a heat-setting, zone, along which co ls of tow or yarn are advanced,thus enabling a relatively long treatment, eg. a not too severeheat-setting treatment, to be carried out.

The advance of the tow or yarn in contiguous coils axially along theannular treatment zone is brought about by the combined effect of thepositive forwarding of the tow or yarn to the leading end of the zone,the rotation of one or both cylindrical members defining the zone, andthe provision of a flange-like closure member for the leading end of thezone, the internal surface of which closure member is shaped to providea helical surface of an axial width about or just over that of thebundle of tow or yarn in the form in which it is fed into the treatmentzone.

Once the initial length of tow or yarn has been entrained within theannular space it is forwarded in the direction of its length around theinner cylinder and it is caused, during the first complete revolution ofthat cylinder. to adopt a helical position around that cylinder of ahelix tangle just sufficient to cause the next complete coil to bestarted contiguously behind the first. Thus, the tow or yarn is advancedalong the annular space in con tiguous coils, and the maximum use ismade of the heatsetting space available.

If desired, a closure member may be provided for the withdrawal end ofthe zone, such member leaving a gap to enable yarn or tow to bewithdrawn or pushed out therethrough.

In a particular use of the invention, described in a second co-pendingapplication filed on even date hereto, for treating and advancing yarnthat has been crimped in a stufier-box crimper, the said closure memberconveniently consists of a spring loaded hell-shaped plunger, the rim ofthis plunger exerting light pressure against the last coil of compacted,crimped yarn within the annular zone, around the outside of which rimthe yarn may positively be withdrawn, for instance, generally in theaxia direction of the zone, in singles yarn form.

It is necessary that the filamentary material should be forwarded atleast substantially tangentially to one end of the treatment zone. i.e.in a direction substantially normal to the axis of the annular spaceconstituting that Zone and substantially in line with and betweentangents to the peripheries of the cylindrical members, although 3 thisl'atter'requirement is capable of variation some way towards theperpendicular to said tangents.

Whilst a treatment with dry heat has been mentioned above, it ispossible according to the invention to carry out treatments with liquidsor gases on the filamentary material within the treatment zone, liquidor gas being introduced, for instance, through perforations or porousportions in the periphery of one or both of the cylindrical members.Thu-s, steam may be so employed to set crimped tow or yarn of nyloncontinuous filaments.

The process of the invention is not limited in application to anyparticular type of filamentary structure, nor is it limited tofilamentary material of any particular kind. The invention has a greaterusefulness, however, with structures of a bulky nature, such as tow orheavy bulked yarn, than with structures such as fine denier yarns.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a diagram of a combined drawing andcrimping lay-out in which the invention is employed;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal partly sectional view, through XX of FIGURE3, of crimping and advancing apparatus embodying the principle of theinvention; @FJIGURE 3. is a transverse sectional view, through YY ofFIGURE 2, of the said crimping and advancing apparatus;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of a flange-like member employed in-the saidcrimping and advancing apparatus;

FIGURE 5 is a side view on A of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a side view on B of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 7 is a side view on C of FIGURE 4;-

The lay-out depicted in FIGURE 1 comprises the withdrawal of undrawnyarn Y from square-ended package 1 wound on cylindrical former 3 bymeans of driven nip rolls 3. The yarn Y balloons on take-off and isdrawn through balloon guide 5, on the axis of former 3, and thencethrough thread guide 7.

The undrawn yarn is then forwarded under tension to the drawing stagecomprising feed roll 11, with its separator roll 13, and draw roll 17,with its separator roll 19. Between the feed and draw rolls the yarn iswrapped around snubbing pin to locate the point of draw. The pin may beheated by internal electric resistance means (not shown).

On departure from the draw roll 17 the yarn is fully drawn, and it isnow directly submitted to crimping in the compression crimping stage.

The compression crimping apparatus comprises feed roll 21, whoseperiphery is directly driven by that of crimper roll 23, and crimperrolls 23 and 25. The drawn yarn is passed under feed roll 21, throughthe nip between it and crimper roll 23, and thence down through the nipof crimper rolls 23, 25 into the crimping chamber generally indicated at27.

From the crimping chamber, the crimped yarn passes directly into theannular treating chamber generally indicated at 29.

Both said crimping apparatus and said annular treating chamber will bemore specifically described with reference to FIGURE 2 and 3; but inFIGURE 1 it is shown that a rotary part of said annular treating chamberincludes driving wharl fixed to a shaft rotatable in axially spacedbearings 33. Slidable axially of said shaft is spindle 37 of bell-shapedplunger 31, the latter serving as closure member for the discharge endof the annular treating chamber 29.

The yarn on withdrawal from the annular treating chamber 29 is crimped,and is now designated Y Withdrawal is effectedby rotation of wind-uproll 5'7 carrying package by the surface drive of said package from theperiphery of drive roll 53. Crimped yarn Y is passed through threadguide 43 on the axis of the annular treating chamber, and thence aroundtensioning bollard 45 for imparting a low tension to the yarn so that itis in even condition when passed around the periphery of magneticparticle yarn brake 47. Finally, the yarn is passed over pin 49 andthence through reciprocating thread-guide 51 for traversing the yarn onto the wind-up package 55.

The regulation of the amount of yarn within the annular treating chamber29 is performed by the function of the bell-shaped plunger 31 and theyarn brake 47. The plunger 31 is spring-loaded and hence its axialposition with respect to the chamber 29 will give an indication of theamount of yarn compacted within the chamber. Movement of the plunger 31and its spindle 37 is arranged to be transmitted, via the lever 39 and acam fixedly mounted to the pivot thereof, to roller 41 on the spring-armof a micro-switch.

The micro-switch is contained in an electrical circuit fed from thealternating current mains via two-tap transformer 59. Depending onwhether the switch is made of broken, alternating current at either ahigh or a low voltage is supplied from the thus selected tapping of thetransformer to rectifier circuit 61. The direct current output of saidrectifier, at either the high or the low voltage, is fed to magneticparticle yarn brake 47, whereby more or less braking effect is impartedto the crimped yarn. The more the yarn is braked, the higher will be thetension in the yam between the brake and the windup; and, as the crimpedyarn is extensible, the higher the tension the less amount, in weight,of yarn will be wound in unit time. Hence, the amount of yarn withdrawnfrom the annular treating chamber in unit time can be controlled bythese means.

The crimping and advancing apparatus shown in FIG- URES 2 and 3 embodiesthe principle of the invention wherein yarn or the like is treated in anannular chamber whilst being advanced in contiguous coils axially ofthat chamber.

In the embodiment depicted in these two figures, yarn Y is fed by feedroll 21 into the nip of crimper rolls 2'3, 25, as already described withrespect to FIGURE 1.

The crimping chamber 27 of the stutter-box type of compression crimpercomprises back wall 79, front wall 77 and side walls 67, 69. These wallsare shaped at their lower ends to fit closely against the outercylindrical shell 71 of annular treating and advancing chamber 29.

The inlet end of the chamber 29 is closed by flangelike closure member 63 having an inwardly-facing helical cam surface 79-81, which will bedescribed in greater detail with respect to FIGURES 4-7, in which italone is depicted.

The crimped yarn is forced in a compressed column from the crimpingchamber directly downwardly into the annular treating chamber, aroundwhich it is advanced in contiguous coils 75 of compressed yarn nature.

The annular chamber is formed by the fixed outer cylindrical shell 71and the inner rotatable roller 73. The surface of the roller 73 iscorrugated longitudinally, i.e. in the axial direction.

The discharge end of the annular chamber is provided with a closuremember in the form of bell-shaped plunger 31, around the rim of whichthe crimped yarn Y is withdrawn through guide 43. The plunger 31 islightly held in contact with the furthermost coil of com-pressed yarn byreason of compressed spring by which its spindle 37 is urged in theleftward direction of FIGURE 2.

As shown partially in FIGURES 2 and 3, and fully the helical cam surfaceon the opposite side, a fiat sur face 78 cut in the cam surface supportand the back wall 70 of the crimping chamber (not shown in FIG- URE 6).

As described with reference to FIGURE 1, the rotatable roller 73 of theannular treating chamber is positively driven from wharl 35, and itsshaft is supported in axially spaced bearings 33. The spindle 37 ofplunger 31 is slideable within said shaft against the force of spring65.

If it is desired positively to treat, e.g. to heat-set the yarn in theannular chamber 29, and not merely to condition it therein during itsaxial advance the outer cylindrical shell 71 may have an electricalresistance heater jacket attached exteriorly thereof. Alternatively, orin addition, the interior of roller 73 may be provided with electriccartridge heaters, the electric supply to which can be via slip-rings onthe shaft between bearings 33.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, by thespecific operating conditions of processes for crimping yarns ofpolyhexamethylene adipamide.

EXAMPLE I Three ends (single yarns) of drawn 1040 denier/ 68 filamentcontinuous-filament yarn of polyhexamethylene adipamide were withdrawnfrom draw-twist packages by means of rolls as illustrated in FIGURE 2,and a tension of 200 grams was applied to each end by pulling the yarnthrough a tension-imparting device.

The crimping rolls were positively driven at a peripheral speed of 1500feet/minute; and the fluted roller of the annular treating chamber wasrotated at 35 revolutions per minute. Under these conditions, 12 coilsof compressed yarn were maintained within the annular chamber, which washeated to 180 C. by means of an electric resistance in an annular jacketsurrounding the outer cylindrical shell.

The crimped yarn was withdrawn and wound-up according to the arrangementdepicted in FIGURE 1, the wind-up speed being 1300 feet/minute. Themagnetic particle brake oscillated between a high setting of 300 gramsand a low setting of 100 grams.

The crimped yarn was adequately bulked, having a skein length (15 gramsweight) of 12% inches.

EXAMPLE II Three ends (single yarns) of undrawn 3600 denier/ 68 filamentyarn of polyhexamethylene adipamide were withdrawn from spinningcylinder supply packages, and drawn at a draw ratio of 3.7:1 and crimpedaccording to the arrangement depicted in FIGURE 1. The crimping rollswere positively rotated at a peripheral speed of 1500 feet/ minute; andthe fluted roller of the annular treating chamber was rotated at 42revolutions per minute. No heat was supplied to the walls of the annulartreating chamber, the temperature of which rose to 90 C. due to the heatimparted from the yarn.

12 coils of compressed yarn were maintained in the chamber.

The crimped yarn was bulked to an equivalent skein length value to thatof the yarn of Example I, the actual skein length being 15 /2 incheswith a weight of grams employed, rather than 15 grams.

EXAMPLE III The conditions of Example II were the same, except that theperipheral speed of the crimping rolls was 3000 feet/minute, and therotational speed of the roller in the annular treating chamber wasrevolutions per minute.

EXAMPLE IV The process described in Example II was repeated forequivalent undrawn yarns of Terylene polyester fibre, but in thisinstance the snubbing pin was heated and the yarn was forwarded from thedraw roll to the stutter-box feed rolls at a low degree of mechanicalunderfeed, i.e. the feed rolls were rotated at a peripheral speedslightly higher than that of the draw roll.

It will be appreciated that the process of the invention has beendescribed in the examples and with reference to the drawings inconnection with the specific embodiment of treating nylon yarn afterstutter-box crimping. Such a treatment, whether with applied heat orwithout it, is but one presently important application of theinvention..

Except for the crimping process specifically claimed in said secondco-pending patent application filed on even date hereto, which processis disclaimed herein.

What we claim is:

1. A process for treating crimped filamentary material comprising:forming an annular treatment zone by arranging an inner cylindricalmember within an outer cylindrical member, at least one of said membersbeing rotatable about its axis in a given direction; positivelyforwarding said filamentary material continuously and at leastsubstantially tangential to one end of said treatment zone in said givendirection at the point of initial contact of said filamentary materialwith the rotatable member; advancing said filamentary material axiallyof said members toward the other end of said treatment Zone in the formof continuous helical coils between said members; treating saidfilamentary material to set the crimp therein while it is being advancedand removing said filamentary material from said other end of saidtreatment zone.

2. A process as in claim 1 including the step of positively rotating therotatable cylindrical member in said given direction at a peripheralspeed which is correlated with the linear speed at which the filamentarymaterial is forwarded.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,217,482 11/1965Baer 28-1 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

L. K. RIMRODT, Assistant Examiner.

1. A PROCESS FOR TREATING CRIMPED FILAMENTARY MATERIAL COMPRISING:FORMING AN ANNULAR TREATMENT ZONE BY ARRANGING AN INNER CYLINDRICALMEMBER WITHIN AN OUTER CYLINDRICAL MEMBER, AT LEAST ONE OF SAID MEMBERSWBEING ROTATABLE ABOUT ITS AXIS IN A GIVEN DIRECTION; POSITIVELYFORWARDING SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL CONTINUOUSLY AND AT LEASTSUBSTANTIALLY TANGENTIAL TO ONE END OF SAID TREATMENT ZONE IN SAID GIVENDIRECTION AT THE POINT OF INITIAL CONTRACT OF SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIALWITH THE ROTATABLE MEMBER; ADVANCING SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL AXIALLYOF SAID MEMBER TOWARD THE OTHER END OF SAID TREATMENT ZONE IN THE FORMOF CONTINUOUS HELICAL COILS BETWEEN SAID MEMBERS; TREATING SAIDFILAMENTARY MATERIAL SET THE CRIMP THEREIN WHILE IT IS BEING ADVANCEDAND REMOVING SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL FROM SAID OTHER END OF SAIDTREATMENT ZONE.